*DOMINION MANDATE DAILY DEVOTIONAL*

SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2020

*PARTNERSHIP IN MARRIAGE*

*BIBLE READING: GENESIS 1:26-30; ECCLESIASTES 4: 9-11; 1PETER 3:7*

*“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis‬ ‭2:24‬ ‭(NKJV).*

God designed marriage to be a partnership between a husband and wife. Husbands, God intended for your wives to be more than your housekeepers, your sex toys, your personal slaves, or baby-sitters for the children you bore together. God designed your wives to be co-rulers in the partnership of life. It is God's intention for a husband and wife to be a formidable team. Marriage was designed for both spouses to live their lives together, to fulfill the dominion mandate.

This was why in the beginning, God said, that it is not good for the man to be alone. The only thing that was not good after God finished the work of creation was that the man was alone. God then created the woman and gave her to Adam to help him not just to till the ground, but to do life together.

Although his reputation with regards to his marriages is very ungodly, King Solomon is known as one of the wisest and richest men that ever passed through this earth; he was accurate in his assertion that life cannot be done alone (Eccl. 4:9-11). For Husbands and wives to have exponential profit for their labour, they must not do just marriage, but life together.

In 1 Peter 3:7, we are told that Husbands and wives are co-inheritors; this means that they are in a partnership in which assets and liabilities are owned and owed equally. When Husbands and wives treat themselves as equals and value their partnership in life, they become a powerful team, anything less than this, will hinder the grace of God in their lives. When a wife is treated less than an equal partner, she can become discouraged and bitter regarding the marriage. Once bitterness sets in, it will obstruct the flow of God's grace, which will hinder the effectiveness of the team.

Husbands, it is very critical for you to see your wives as co-partners, and co-inheritors in life. In Ecclesiastes 9:9, Solomon called your wife your portion in this life. Marriage is like an aircraft with two engines; remember, that both engines are of equal capacity. When Husbands and wives see themselves as a unified team, their prayer life becomes powerful and effective but when they are disunited, their prayers will be powerless and ineffective.

Certain roles in marriage are not really cast in tablets of stone, it is the interplay and interchange of roles that leads to a formidable and a winning team.

*PRAYER POINT
Father, I receive the grace to function as an effective team player in my marriage.